Will Merrick Garland Be Confirmed Before SCOTUS' Texas Abortion Case? This Could Be A Quick Decision

One of the big questions on everyone's mind is whether or not Merrick Garland will be confirmed before the Supreme Court rules on Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, otherwise known as the most recent attempt by the Texas legislature to restrict access to abortion. The case was added to the docket in September of last year, and it was one of the cases which Justice Antonin Scalia was heavily involved in before he passed away in February. The first round of arguments were held on March 2. While it is hard to pin down when exactly a decision will be released, it is possible that the court could issue a ruling on the case as early as tomorrow.

According to an announcement on the well-regarded court-watching blog scotusblog.com, the site says in an editor's note to watch for an opinion "in one or more argued cases" at 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday, March 22. Whether or not the court will be issuing an opinion about Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt isn't known yet, but it would mark a relatively quick turnaround time from when arguments were heard to when decisions were made. Tuesday will mark only the second time that the court has issued opinions since the passing of the late Justice Scalia; perhaps without the famously loquacious lines of questioning from the late justice, things on the court are moving at a more lively pace.

The gist of the Whole Woman's Health case comes down to whether or not the Texas Department of State Health Services is going out of their way to make abortions difficult to access. In this case, two Whole Woman's Health clinics in Texas had to cease offering abortion services to patients because of new regulations introduced by Texas authorities.

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These regulations in question are twofold: first, clinics must now have admitting privileges at local hospitals so patients would be able to quickly be taken to a nearby, qualified hospital for emergency care. The other suite of regulations have to do with making sure that clinics themselves are outfitted to offer hospital level care onsite. In other words, mandating that any clinic offering abortion services comply with ambulatory surgical center standards. If these regulations seem redundant, it's because they pretty much are. They also ended up forcing 75 percent of the remaining providers in Texas to shut their doors or be in violation of the law, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.